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Audible Editor Reviews

This new edition of Machiavelli's classic is bookended by an introduction and interpretive essay by the editor and translator, Christopher Lynch. The informative introduction is essentially a historiography, placing the work in its historical context and surveying the different arguments and revisions of its secondary literature, with Lynch arguing for a "third way" of reading Machiavelli's misunderstood work. A more general introduction to Machiavelli's life and Florentine background would have been welcome.

Lynch offers a careful close reading of the original; he makes a strong case for his translation choices, and argues for a reassessment of several key points based on his new version  for example, his interpretation of Machiavelli’s attitude towards the citizen army. His translation convincingly presents Machiavelli’s voice and aims, and his conclusions about the disharmony of civic and military lives, "the priest and the warrior, the armed and the unarmed".

Lynch claims to have striven to "remove myself from between Machiavelli and his reader", and, in this clear and literal translation, he has succeeded. The downside of this is a certain lack of color, or panache. The book takes the form of dialogues: several interlocutors pose questions and respond to the historical figure of Fabrizio Colanno (adapted by Machiavelli, argues Lynch, as a “restrained version” of the author himself). But their interjections are limited to a few lines at most, while Colanno's answers are more like monologues, delivered in the lengthy and dense sentences of the Italian original. The narrator, then, faces an uphill struggle to introduce variety into the proceedings, and the lack of modification in Victor Bevine's performance doesn't help: he gives equal weight to every line, even though asides, footnotes, and parentheses should have their own pace. What he does do well is to manufacture a sense of forward propulsion that plows through the detailed descriptions of artillery formations and gunpowder technology.

The real draw here, though, is the essay which follows the main text with barely a pause for breath. Here Lynch writes illuminatingly of "the many unexpected gifts" of Machiavelli, and justifies the need for this latest in a line of translations by seeking to find out anew exactly what kind of work this "useful and beautiful book" is. Lynch repeatedly urges us to take "a closer look". Dafydd Phillips

Publisher's Summary

Niccolo Machiavelli's Art of War is one of the world's great classics of military and political theory. Praised by the finest military minds in history and said to have influenced no lesser lights than Frederick the Great and Napoleon, the Art of War is essential for anyone who wants to understand the history and theory of war in the West and for those familiar with The Prince and Discourse on Livy who seek to explore more fully the connection between war and politics in Machiavelli's thought.

Machiavelli scholar Christopher Lynch offers a sensitive and entirely new translation of the Art of War, faithful to the original but rendered in modern, idiomatic English. Lynch's fluid translation helps listeners appreciate anew Machiavelli's brilliant treatments of the relationships between war and politics, civilians and the military, and technology and tactics. Clearly laying out the fundamentals of military organization and strategy, Machiavelli marshals a veritable armory of precepts, prescriptions, and examples about such topics as how to motivate your soldiers and demoralize the enemy's, avoid ambushes, and gain the tactical and strategic advantage in countless circumstances. To help listeners better appreciate the Art of War, Lynch provides an insightful introduction that covers its historical and political context, sources, influence, and contemporary relevance. He also includes a substantial interpretive essay discussing the military, political, and philosophical aspects of the work.

While sometimes reading more like a rennasance manual on field tactics than a phillosophical treatment on the subject, The Art of War fills in the gaps for those who wish to understand more about the world that sparked Machiavelli's ideas in The Prince. Why did he hate mercenaries so much? What were the historical stories (or antecdotes) that were behind his political policies? What was his view as an experienced millitary man about the rising importance of firearms in battle? The narrator does a pretty good job on all the characters (the book is arranged as a Socratic dialogue) and also includes two long-winded and somewhat controversial essays before and after the book. I feel listening to the essays helped me understand the book better. However, despite any evidence to support this claim, the writer of these essays tends to go off on sensationlist tangents about how the real enemy Machiavelli was fighting against was Christianity. That and maybe the overly- detailed army camp and formation plans were really my only complaints with the book. In conclusion, read The Prince first, if your still interested, listen to this next.

I liked the book. And had no trouble with the narration. The differed people speaking are recognizable by their voice. But not in a bad way. The translator really loves Niccolo Machiavelli, and it show in the piece after the book itself. But the translation is a bit, maybe outdated, to stay close to the original may be the best way to put it. Just listen to the preview, and you have a good taste of what it is.

This is one of the classics of military science. It is dramatically underrated and unappreciated by most. As a book it is a wonderful source of information and history. For those reasons it is worth listening to. I can wholeheartedly recommend it. Anyone interested in pre-20th Century Military History SHOULD read this book.

But the narration and the edition are poor at best. The narrator was confronted with a problem, the book is in the form of a dialog between a hardened veteran and a number of neophytes. Unfortunately he decided to exaggerate the difference so that the veteran is narrated in a really gruff voice that is so odd that it makes it hard to listen to. The other problem is that the translators essays are silly. They are in fact both irrelevant and really rather bizarre.

In sum: The book - 5 stars; the narration 3 stars; the editor's notes and essays - 1 star at best. Since one can always skip the editors notes, I have averaged it to 4 stars.

I'm about halfway through this book as of writing this review, however as most of those interested in the book will be familiar with the contents I think I have sufficient knowledge about what this review is truly about. Namely, the quality of translation and the quality of the narration.

The narration of the book is excellent, it is clear and pleasant to the ears, consistent and makes it an easy and entertaining read.

In regards to the translation, it appears also to be of a high quality, the translator in elaborating some of his concerns regarding some of the more difficult passages, has clearly taken great care to give us the closest possibly aproximation of Machiavelli's own words, in English.

It is to be said however, that the introductory essay is too long, drawn out and in my opinion, not even remotely interesting.

For those of you who agree with me on this, skip to about 50-60 minutes into the book to reach the beginning of Machiavelli's work, as everything prior is the translator's own musings on Machiavelli.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

Vickie

7/8/16

Overall

Performance

Story

"Tough"

It was tough to get through this however it is delivered well and the explanations to follow each dialogue were valuable. I enjoyed the strategy section.

0 of 0 people found this review helpful

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